A Libertação

At first I was at the edge of my seat. I think the way poverty, socioeconomics and these disturbing events was mixed together was brilliant. The way we get into the story of the family and how they interact was, in my opinion, really well written and acted out.

But all of the sudden, there is a weird switch and it becomes standard exorcism stuff, with all the classic effects we've seen so many times before. There is also these annoying errors, for the love of all that is holy - why cannot exorcists tie a decent knot!

Bottom line, decent Sunday movie where the first part of the movie is good, second part is slightly disappointing and unimaginative.

The worst thing about this movie was how good it started. It pulled me in, led me to believe it was going to be original and interesting.

Production value is decent, acting is good. Story seemed to be developing well.. All of a sudden it switched into a completely different movie, full of absurdities and suddenly awful writing! I honestly feel that they changed writers half way through. In fact I'd place a bet on it.

So of course having invested time into watching it, I had to see it through to the end.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry from the ultimate disappointment.

Bottom line - I could have done without!

Holy shizniz batman! Where do I being with this masterpiece in satirical storytelling. Glenn still has it! From some one line zingers to straight up WILD acting. The story waste no time throwing you right into the chaos of daily life for a single mom, her 3 children, and sick mother. New house. Stinky smells. Noises in the night. Strange events packed into a dense family drama with to much fat. Under the mess is a good story with some interesting ideas. Where it fails is with a family story that's over packed with what feels like a tv series worth a drama. This movie could have worked much better in a mini series format.

Now let's get into the dialog. This movie said to Hereditary, "Hold my beer." The dialog at points is hilariously awful. I laughed multiple times so hard my gut hurt. Glenn Close was the cherry on top in the chaos. Chefs kiss.

Outside of story issues. Poors cgi. Some rough edits don't really improve the quality. The cinematography was well done with excitement color palette.

In all seriousness, Mo'Nique was the best part of the movie. Her scenes brought the movie back from it's satirical fridges to something with heart. I really hope to see her in more films. I think the horror genre fits Mo'Nique.

The only reason this gets two stars is because the actors are really trying to do some thing with this material. I'm all for a slow burn in a horror movie, but it takes far too long for them to get to the point. They could have taken less time setting up the family trauma and you would still understand that it's this fracture in the family that opens them up to evil. And then comes the "deliverance" and the sorry attempt at ripping off of the brilliant and classic "The Exorcist". It's laughable. The dialogue is poorly written the special FX look terrible, and not in a good way, and it fails on every level to deliver (yes I used that word deliberately) any impact, fear or semblance of a satisfying movie experience.

I don't know what happened to Lee Daniel's. Precious this ain't. As refreshing it is to see Close in a way we have seen before. And she's excellent in whatever part she plays. Audra Day and Mo'nique are both solid. I just wish someone had made a completely different film with the material laid out in the film's first half: a gripping family portrait of a struggling black mother, her kids and her mother.

The way this initially gripping film drifted off into laughable horror territory breaks my heart. No matter how often they tell us "based on a true story", it doesn't redeem what the director did. In the end it became its own parody. Close, Day and Mo'nique deserve better. And shame on Lee Daniel's. I expected so much more of you.